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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced S. 953, the deceptively titled Offshore Production and Safety Act of 2011, which would expand offshore drilling and make it more dangerous by enacting oversight standards that are weaker than those in place before the catastrophic 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which tragically killed eleven workers, wreaked havoc on Gulf coast businesses in the fishing and tourism industries, and damaged coastal and marine ecosystems. The bill would mandate numerous lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off Virginia’s beaches, requiring the government to use outdated and inadequate environmental reviews in the processing of new leases, even though the reviews do not consider the impacts of a worst-case scenario like the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The bill would also impose a rushed and arbitrary time period of just 30 days for the Interior Secretary to approve or deny drilling permits, and it would grant automatic approval if no action is taken within 60 days. On May 18, the Senate rejected a motion to proceed to the consideration of S. 953 by a vote of 42-57 (Senate roll call vote 73). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.